Happiness
by Yuna Leonhart
Summary: Just a little Oneshot which happens in the period between the second and third film. I think the only thing related to the third film is something everyone knows. MannyxEllie


I do not own _Ice Age_ and its characters. And I also don't own the song _On My Way_.

* * *

**Happiness**

A wide, open field, partly covered with snow. A single acorn lied on the snow. Not far away were an aardvark kid, a glyptodont kid and an euceratherium kid were playing. Also not far away was a saber toothed squirrel. With his nose on the snow covered floor he sniffed and hopped around. Soon Scrat discovered the acorn and he let a squeak of delight out. Scrat hopped quickly to the acorn and took it in his arms. He embraced and stroked it like a lover. Good humored he wanted to go on his way, but he only managed to lift one foot when the glyptodont kid stepped on him. After that Scrat lost his acorn, which landed a few meters away from him. The glyptodont kid continued running, shouting "You'll never catch me!" to the others. Scrat braced himself up but he did not stand for a second when the aardvark and euceratherium stepped on him, making him look platitudinous. The latter managed to kick the acorn to the other end of the field. With big eyes and an unbelievable expression watched Scrat the acorn flying all over the field. When the saber toothed squirrel could not see his acorn anymore, he let a squeaky whimper out before screamingly jumping high in the air. Farther away the three kids looked in his direction.

"What was that?", the aardvark asked.

* * *

Somewhere, not far away from the field, was a cave with a big tree in front of the entrance. Not too far away was a lake. It was quite a walk but not so far away that you would be thirsty again when you return. If it would be Spring then countless flowers would decorate the surroundings. But it was Fall and Winter was round the corner. A bulk of the plants was frozen. Most of the animals were on their way to the south, including the herd that resides in that cave during the warm seasons. What kind of herd lived there? Well, nothing but the weirdest herd ever, consisting two mammoths, two possums, a saber toothed cat and a sloth. Most of the animals looked at them quizzically but nobody cared. They had decided to stay together, instead to travel with their kind. However last Spring, right after the flood, was a situation which almost caused the herd to be separated. Everyone thought Manny and Ellie were the last mammoths on Earth, until lots of mammoths came to the valley. Ellie was about to go with and after Manny admitted he wanted to be with her, Diego and Sid thought, those two and Crash and Eddie would go with the mammoths. Fortunately it turned out that those four would rather travel with the both of them. From that day on this herd was always together. Soon they found the cave and decided to live their during the warm times. But Winter was on its way, so they had to travel to the South.

The herd travelled quietly to the southern direction. Well, quietly if you would disregard the laughter of Crash and Eddie, who played catch. Soon another sound joined them; the singing of a sloth:

_Tell everybody I'm on my way_

_New friends and new places to see_

_With blue skies ahead, yes, I'm on my way_

_And there's nowhere else that I'd rather be_

"SID!", Manny shouted and Sid stopped singing. The sloth snorted and muttered something about Manny having no taste of music. But soon Sid was happy humored again but if it was because he is too lazy to stay offended for long or because he found a dandelion was uncertain.

"Manny, don't you think we should stop for the night?", Ellie suggested later when they were in a clearing of a forest. "It is late already."

Indeed the sun was almost down. They could only see a little bit of the sun at the horizon. The only ones who could see in the darkness were Crash, Eddie and Ellie. Latter only because she was raised by possums and because of that she is used to travel at night, resulting that she could see in darkness as good as in daylight. But she preferred to sleep at night so that she would not fall asleep when they were on their way... and because she could sleep better snuggled up against Manny, instead of hanging from the tree. It took a while until Ellie got used to sleep on the floor, but now she could not imagine to sleep hanging from a tree again. Ellie thought about how much her life has changed since the flood treated the lives of the animals in the valley. All those years she thought she was a possum who was just too big until she remembered the moment when she was a baby and adopted by a possum family. At first it was difficult for her to live like a mammoth.

"You're right", Manny agreed. Upon hearing that everyone else sighed in relief. After all they walked all day and were tired. But before they could rest, they had to do something. Sid, Crash and Eddie were off looking for twigs they could use for a fire. It was dark now and a crescent moon and countless stars adorned the night sky. Ellie was about to lie down when Manny came to her.

"Care for a walk in the moon light?", Manny asked.

"Sure", Ellie replied. Both left the clearing and, after they walked for a little while, Manny excused himself and disappeared. Ellie did not have to wait for long until he came back.

"Where were you?", she asked.

"Just tied Crash and Eddie with their tails up around a branch of a tree", Manny answered. "Don't worry, I'll free them when we come back. We surely don't want that the same thing from last time happens."

The last time Many and Ellie were alone those two possums followed them und annoyed the two mammoths with kissing sounds and the corniest lines in history. Both mammoths were angry because they wanted a romantic date without any disturbances. In the end Ellie beat Crash and Eddie so much that they could not sit for a week. Thus Ellie could understand why Manny tied them up.

"And what about Sid? Don't we have to worry about him, too?", Ellie asked because she knew he would like to follow those two mammoths on their date.

"Diego will take care of him", Manny assured her. Ellie just nodded and both did not say anything.

The surrounding gave a romantic feeling. They were at a lake, surrounded by conifers. The moon and the stars were mirrored on the surface and the snow glittered like diamonds... not that the animals from a time a million years ago knew what diamonds are. Manny and Ellie sat at the shore. The female let her trunk glide over the surface, while Manny looked at her. After a while she looked at him, too. Ellie did not know what she had done to deserve Manny and the other way around was just the same. He looked at her with love, affection and devotion and Ellie knew she looked at him the same way. Words were not necessary, looking at each other was enough for the two mammoths to tell them they loved each other. Nothing could separate those two, they held together, in good times and in bad times and they protected each other. The love those mammoths shared was stronger than everything else in the world. Yes, Manny's love for Ellie was even stronger than the one for his dead wife and child. Ever since Manny got together with Ellie, he swore to himself to protect her and their child, when they get one.

* * *

Under two ill humored possums lied Diego. Sid was not there yet because he was looking for the right stones while Crash and Eddie already collected enough twigs.

"Where are Manny and Ellie?", Sid asked with his usual lisp. Then he noticed the two possums with their tails tied up around the branch of a tree. "Who tied Crash and Eddie up?"

"Manny", Eddie replied, while Crash snorted in anger.

"And why?"

"He and Ellie are on a date", Crash said, then both spoke like they were just one:

"They want to be alone."

Sid made a fire with the stones he brought while both possums spoke. As always Sid got a body part burned, this time the tail. Thanks to his "Ow, ow, ow!"-chant he could not hear the last part.

"I go get them", he announced and started to leave, only to stop after five steps and to confusingly look at the other three. "Eh, in which direction did they go?"

"Sid, Manny said he will bring you to the mini sloths if you disturb his date", Diego spoke. Sid let a girlish shriek out and decided not to look for the mammoths. Instead he took a bark of a tree, which happened to lie around, und lied down next to Diego.

"The herd surely has changed, has it?", Sid said.

"Yeah", Diego agreed. "Before only three bachelors and now four bachelors and two lovers."

"And some day the bachelors will find a mate", Sid said. He was silent and looked at the moon and stars for a few minutes. The he spoke again:

"What do you think are Manny and Ellie doing on their date?"

"Probably something they don' need an audience for", Diego replied. He too looked at the sky. "But I'm happy for Manny. Remember how sulky he was?"

„Yeah, he sure has changed."

"Thanks to Ellie."

Sid nodded.

"And now we are one big, happy family", the sloth said and fell asleep the next second.

"How can someone fall asleep that fast?", Crash asked whereupon Diego just shrugged clueless. Then the saber tooth lied his head on his paws and closed his eyes. Soon he was asleep, too.

Soon Manny and Ellie returned to the clearing. The former freed the possums.

"Finally!", both cried and Eddie added an "About time!"

"Sorry, we lost track of time", Manny said, while Ellie gave her brothers an apologizing smile. Crash and Eddie remained hanging from the tree since it was quite late and soon they were out like a light. Both mammoths lied down, a little farther away from the possums, and fell asleep, too.

* * *

The next morning everybody from the herd looked for food before they continued travelling. For a great part of the time it was quiet, if you ignore Sid's singing and the laughter of two playing possums. Around midday they rested at another lake that was not frozen yet. Everyone, excluding Ellie who felt tired for some reason, went looking for food. Manny had promised her to bring her something. So she waited, but as time passed she was beginning to feel thirsty. She stood up only to feel a sharp pain in her stomach.

"Ow!", escaped from her mouth just as an aardvark family passed by.

"Ev'ryting's alright?", the female asked.

"Yeah, except that my stomach hurts and that I'm tired for some reason", Ellie replied. The aardvark female stayed silent for a moment with a thoughtful expression. Then she continued asking:

"You have a mate?"

Ellie nodded.

"Were you two active recently?"

Again Ellie nodded. Now the aardvark female smiled:

"Then I know what's wrong with you. You're not sick, just pregnant."

At first Ellie gave her an unbelievable look as if she thought she misheard. But the aardvark just nodded to answer to unspoken question and Ellie smiled happily.

"Well, gotta go", the aardvark said. "Bye."

The aardvark family was barely away when Manny, Crash and Eddie appeared. The mammoth lied some plants down on the spot where Ellie sat before. When she returned from the lake after drinking, she gave Manny her happiest smile.

"Manny, I have good news", Ellie said happily, just as Diego and Sid arrived. Everyone looked at her expectant and Ellie simply said "I'm pregnant!"

Manny wrapped his trunk around Ellie's and looked at her happily. But in the middle of the pool of happiness which were his eyes was a little bit of sadness. Of course that did not escape Ellie.

"Honey, what's wrong?", she asked.

"Ellie, I'm really happy to be a father but there is something you should know", Manny said. "Years ago I already had a mate and a child. One day we were attacked by humans. I tried to stop them but there were too many. In the end they killed my family."

Ellie listened to him all them time. She nodded with understanding.

"This is why you were so grumpy, right?", she said and Manny nodded. The mammoth female stroked his head with her trunk.

"You're not gonna get rid of me", she simply said and Manny smiled at her lovingly. Both looked at the rest of the herd. Everyone smiled happily. No words were used, the expression said everything.

* * *

Right next to a geyser was an acorn situated. Scrat hopped in its direction but when he was almost there, he tripped over a little stone and pushed the acorn with his head. This little push was enough for the acorn to fall in the geyser. Hot steam shot out of the geyser only a second later. Scrat looked at the geyser with big eyes and a nervous smile and laughed nervously.

_~The End~_

_

* * *

_The two reasons why Sid sang _On My Way_:

1) I was listening to that song when I wrote this

2) They were on their way


End file.
